cliff negotiations. cnn has just learned that house republican leaders have sent the white house a counteroffer on tax and entitlement reform. let's bring in our capitol hill senior correspondent dana bash who's got the details. what have we learned? >> we learned that, as you said, the republicans have sent to the white house an offer that they describe as something that is significant with regard to tax and entitlement reform. of course, those are the two tranches that we're talking about here. they are being very -- holding their cards very close to the vest in terms of what specifics these are but apparently it's a counteroffer to something the white house sent to them yesterday. we don't know the details. this is good news for both sides. republicans saying earlier that the white house has to give them more spending cuts. but this is really key because the first thing they have to do, wolf, is get those top line numbers. they are not talking specifics, what kind of tax rates, how much to do. they ar